and his refusal to perform the funeral prayer for such a person, for this serves to deter others from treating people’s rights lightly.

9 – As for hadith no. (752), in which he ﷺ used to settle the debt of anyone who died owing money and possessed nothing with which to pay it, that took place only after the revenues of fayʾ had become abundant in his hands; the earlier practice occurred when the Muslims’ treasury was empty.

10 – The Prophet ﷺ is closer to the believers than they are to themselves and more compassionate toward them. In the fullness of his mercy and solicitude he therefore assumed, on behalf of their deceased, the debts that had no means of repayment after their death and discharged them from the Muslims’ public treasury.

11 – Sharīʿah rulings are framed in light of prevailing interests and current circumstances. Thus, if the Muslim ruler finds funds in the state treasury, he must fulfill the duties of governance and public welfare, among them paying the debts of the insolvent. If the treasury is empty, or if other expenditures carry greater priority and reconciliation between the two is impossible, nothing is required of him.

12 – Shaykh Muḥammad b. Ibrāhīm Āl al-Shaykh said, concerning what the public treasury must disburse of blood-money and debts:

First: If a Muslim dies owing any debt—whether blood-money or otherwise—and leaves no assets with which to pay it, the ruler must settle it from the public treasury, as established by authentic hadiths.

Second: If a person kills another by mistake or quasi-intent and has no affluent ʿāqilah (agnate relatives liable for blood-money), the compensation is taken from the public treasury.

Third: Whenever a killer is unknown—such as in a stampede—the victim’s blood-money is borne by the public treasury.

Fourth: If a judge rules for qasāmah (the collective-oath procedure), and the heirs refuse to swear the oaths and are not satisfied with the defendant’s oath, the imam pays the blood-money from the public treasury.